Rates of life-threatening bleeding in U.S. infants have risen sharply since 2017 as parents increasingly refuse protective newborn doses of vitamin K, according to two nationwide studies published in JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics.
Rise in Refusals and Bleeding Cases Through 2025
Researchers analyzing electronic health records across millions of births found that the percentage of newborns missing the standard injection climbed significantly over a multi-year period. A study led by Dr. Kristan Scott at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and published in JAMA examined more than 5.2 million U.S. infants born between 2017 and 2025. The data showed that the rate of newborns who did not receive a vitamin K shot more than doubled from 3.1% in 2017 to 6.8% in 2025, climbing from 5.1% at the end of 2024.
A separate study published in JAMA Pediatrics by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University evaluated more than 11 million U.S. births from 2017 through 2025. The authors found that the percentage of newborns receiving the injection dropped from 97.7% to 95%. Over the same timeframe, the rate of vitamin K deficiency bleeding nearly quadrupled.
The rate in 2025 was approximately double what it was in 2024, said Dr. Steven Woolf. Yearly cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding jumped from 189 to 903 between 2017 and 2024, before surging to 1,764 cases in 2025, according to findings cited by the Washington Post.
Health Risks Associated With Vitamin K Deficiencies
Infants are born with low levels of vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting, and receive little of it from breast milk. Without prophylaxis, babies face risks of serious hemorrhage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the injection, which has been used safely and effectively since 1961.
The JAMA study calculated that babies who did not receive the injection faced a 47% higher risk of bleeding within their first six months of life compared to those who did. Their risk of intracranial hemorrhage and death during birth hospitalization more than doubled, with researchers estimating that one additional bleeding event occurs for every 114 newborns who miss the shot.
Babies who have these vitamin K deficient strokes, 20 percent of them will die, and then of the survivors, 40 percent will have permanent neurologic problems. So it can be very, very serious.
Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Richmond
Skepticism Drives Climb in Vitamin K Refusals
Medical professionals note that the climb in vitamin K refusals aligns with broader skepticism toward public health guidance and routine vaccinations following the COVID-19 pandemic. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Grace Jamison stated that the CDC recommends that parents give newborns a vitamin K injection within six hours of birth to prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding, according to reporting by the Washington Post.
Pediatricians emphasize that although some parents confuse the prophylactic shot with a vaccine, the treatment is strictly a vitamin supplement designed to prevent severe bleeding complications.
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